Eurozone Retail Sales fall 2.1% YoY in August vs. -1.2% expected

• Eurozone Retail Sales came in at -1.2% MoM in August vs. -0.3% expected.
• Retail Sales in the bloc arrived at -2.1% YoY in August vs. -1.2% expected.

Eurozone’s Retail Sales fell 1.2% MoM in August when compared to a decline of 0.1% in July, the official data published by Eurostat showed on Wednesday. The market consensus was for a -0.3% drop.

On a yearly basis, the bloc’s Retail Sales dropped 2.1% in the reported month versus -1.0% registered in July and -1.2% expected.

Meanwhile, the Producer Price Index (PPI) in the old continent plunged 11.5% YoY in August, compared with the expectations of an 11.6% slump and a 7.6% decline reported in July. Over the month, the Eurozone PPI inflation rebounded to 0.6% in August, as against -0.5% in July and 0.6% estimates.

FX implications

Mixed Eurozone data fail to move the needle around the Euro. At the time of writing, the EUR/USD pair is trading at 1.0490, up 0.24% on the day

About Eurozone Retail Sales

The Retail Sales released by Eurostat are a measure of changes in sales of the Eurozone retail sector. It shows the performance of the retail sector in the short term. Percent changes reflect the rate of changes of such sales. The changes are widely followed as an indicator of consumer spending. Usually, positive economic growth anticipates “Bullishness” for the EUR, while a low reading is seen as negative, or bearish, for the EUR.